The Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) is sponsoring a textile drive for the theater industry and its fans on Wednesday, May 25 th from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm in Duffy Square at 46 th Street and Broadway (just west of the TKTS booth). Collection drive efforts in the fall of 2010 garnered 2,250 pounds of materials, donated by casts & crews of 10 shows, 8 costume shops and various neighborhood businesses, as well as theater patrons on their way to the Wednesday matinees.

The collection drive is open to all shows, theaters, industry members and fans and is designed to engage members & fans of the industry to join BGA volunteers in keeping textiles out of landfills.

All goods will be collected by Wearable Collections, who will make sure that 96% of everything collected gets re-purposed or recycled. They accept all used clean clothing, including shoes and hats, and household items: curtains, linens, towels, handbags, and belts (carpeting is not accepted). Wearable Collections will donate a portion of the proceeds to the Broadway Green Alliance to aid in the BGA's efforts to turn Broadway into the Great Green Way.

BGA Co-Chair Charlie Deull says, “Wearable Collections has proven that clothing recycling is one of the most efficient recycling businesses. Close to 50% of textile waste is recovered as secondhand clothing (primarily resold in markets such as Latin & South America and Eastern Europe); while 20% of the material processed becomes wiping and polishing cloths & rags (resold in various local & international markets) and 26% is sent to facilities to be broken down into fibers to be reused in many products such as fiberboard, upholstery or rewoven into new textiles.”

Industry members unable to attend the event are welcome to drop off their textiles at one of three locations: TWU Local 764 at 545 West 45 th Street, Actors' Equity Association at 165 West 46 th Street (14th Floor), or Local 802 AFM at 322 West 48 th Street (during regular business hours).

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THE BROADWAY GREEN ALLIANCE (BGA) educates, motivates and inspires the entire theater community and its patrons to implement environmentally friendlier practices. The BGA (formerly Broadway Goes Green) was launched in 2008 as an ad hoc committee of The Broadway League and has become a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. The BGA brings together all segments of the theater community, including producers, theaters in New York and around the country, theatrical unions and their members, and related businesses. Working closely with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the BGA identifies and disseminates better practices for theater professionals and reaches out to theater fans throughout the country. For more information, visit www.broadwaygreen.com.

WEARABLE COLLECTIONS is a socially responsible clothing recycling company that makes it as easy for New Yorkers to recycle their clothing, as it is to recycle cans, bottles and newspapers. Wearable Collections provides a no cost solution to textile recycling within residential buildings in New York City. Through this process they not only divert textiles from landfills, but also are able to raise money for charitable organizations. www.wearablecollections.com